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Cheap/Easy/Simple Ways To Cool Neps?

Hello,

I'd like to find out if there are any cheap, easy, and/or simple ways to cool neps, in a terrarium, on a windowsill, or otherwise.

I remember reading something about using frozen water bottles in a terrarium to cool it. Anyone know if this works?

Also, I'd like to know if it's important to cool the whole plant, or just the leaves, or just the media and roots.

Also, this is only a temporary "fix" situation, because of the summer heat. I will not need to cool Neps once summer has passed.

If you can help me out, please don't hesitate to share your insight.

Sincerely,

Jimmy
 
There are no cheap ways that are efficient.

I've looked up peltiers, fridges, and freezers.

Sounds like used chest freezers are the way to go...
 
This is the best way, move to a colder climate, and heat the terrarium if the temperature is lower than ideal.
 
Hopefully Varun will see this. I know he does (or at least used to) the ice water bottles thing.

xvart.
 
This is the best way, move to a colder climate, and heat the terrarium if the temperature is lower than ideal.

Yes. The winter here is Wisconsin is nice in the basement. 75 days with a heater, 40 nights. Now if I knew what to do for the summer.
 
lol! THe effect of the water bottles is dependent on the size of the enclosure. As I found out in the case of my last summer when temps used to stay around 70F even at night. In a small tank, a couple of bottles willl help bring the temps down. But this summer as i live in my basement....I found that temps are naturally 60F at night. A test with water bottles gets the temps down to like 58F or so. Its not too much....but I like that it hits the 50's. :p

At this point is more of a psychological solution for me as I have been doing this for a while and my rajah has pitchered well. So I still keep doing it. :)

But you know what....some sort of cooling is better than nothing at all....so try it out.

The best way to cool it seems is from one of those cool mist humidifier's. The temps drop readily to 60F even in the presence of lights during the day. I would suggest trying that with maybe another fan or 2 and see the effectiveness.
 
How about putting in a few buckets of ice water? As it evaporates it might cool the room down.
 
I currently use 7- 2litre frozen bottles placed in my large highland terrarium in conjunction with a AquaLogic drop in aquarium chiller. The chiller coil and 3- 2litre bottles are placed in a compartment with a fan blowing through it constantly. The air goes around the coils and frozen bottles and is discarged to the bottom of the terrarium. The fan suction is at the top of the terrarium. I must change out the frozen bottles nightly, while the chiller is on a timer. This gives me a temp of 54-58F nightly for about 8 hours. My daytime temps are 78-82F. This may sound labor intensive but is not. Only takes about 15 minutes a night. I usually keep 3 days supply of frozen bottles. Have been running this system for over a year and seems to be working great. My highlanders are doing well.
I do not know if this is cheap as aquarium chillers are expensive. I just happened to have one from a reef tank I broke down for my boss numerous years ago and was given to me.
 
Wow, Thanks for the replies guys, you've really helped me out!

I think I'll go ahead with the frozen water bottle method, and try to get my hands on a cool mist humidifier.

As for moving to someplace cooler...If only. Then I would be able to have a greenhouse!

Thanks again!

Jimmy
 
  • #10
Haha...if you are doing an ice water bucket, go ahead and add a bunch of salt to it. It will make the freezing point of ice lower without adding heat, so it will absorb more heat when it melts. Voila!

I've definitely used this method to cool down beverages quickly in a pinch.
The water gets really cold.
 
  • #11
well...glad to help. I personally use 3 500 ml bottles....freeze them everyday and use them. It can be a chore...but it hardly takes 5 minutes so its not a big deal. Allows to also check up on the readings before going to bed. :)
 
  • #12
I have my HL terrarium next to a window. To cool it at night, I take the top off, spray the inside of the terrarium heavily with distilled water, open the windows, and leave the curtains draped over the terrarium. This works pretty well and even though my room temps are rarely dropping below 72 F, the terrarium temps consistently drop to low 60's to mid 50's depending on the temps outside.

I also use two Tropic-Aire humdifiers. I put the Tropic-Aire cannisters and the air pumps outside with tubing going through my window. This keeps it quieter too. This works also but more as spot cooling and to a lesser extent cooling the right half of my tank more than the left. The problem with relying on this alone is that we have a house swamp cooler and it builds up air pressure in the house too strong and the air pumps pump air in super slowly after it's been running for a while. It's sufficient for cooling alone, however, if the day temps only run into the 70's. But here in South Bay Area CA they are hitting high 80's and low 90's consistently right now.
 
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